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Sustainability and Responsible Banking

Sustainability and Responsible Banking

Twenty experts discussed the future of social entrepreneurship at the closing event of BBVA Momentum’s most international year yet. The event in Madrid brought together entrepreneurs from Mexico, Colombia, the United States, and Turkey. BBVA Momentum 2019 closed its most recent edition with an event where participating social entrepreneurs showcased their projects and sustainability played a central role.

BBVA is the first financial institution in Spain to distribute cards made of recycled plastic. This launch is part of the bank’s commitment to the fight against climate, and adopt initiatives that contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. The new cards, which are currently in the early stages of production, will begin circulating in the month of May. They will initially be available for those holding BBVA accounts for young people (Cuenta Joven BBVA).

BBVA Momentum ends its 2019 program with the celebration of a global event in Madrid. International players in the sector and the three most promising entrepreneurs from each participating country will attend the event. The event will close the most ambitious year for the program, which accelerated the growth of 169 social businesses from Colombia, the United States, Mexico, and Turkey.

BBVA increased its 2019 contribution to the communities it serves, allocating €113.8 million to social initiatives, thus benefiting 11.5 million people around the world, up 42 percent from the previous year. Of this investment, 85 percent is earmarked to the three areas defined as priorities in the Community Investment Plan: financial education; social entrepreneurship; and knowledge, education and culture.

In an interview published in the latest edition of Compromiso RSE, Antoni Ballabriga, Global Director of Responsible Business at BBVA and Co-Chair of the Global Steering Committee for the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), stressed that: “The financial sector’s sustainable partnership with the United Nations is more active than ever.” An initiative he feels promotes a financial industry that has a positive impact,  serving people and the planet. “It’s something that it hopes to achieve by inspiring, informing and enabling financial institutions to improve people’s quality of life without compromising that of future generations,” he explains.